In the cafe type traverse rods and decorative traverse rods designed to simulate the appearance of an old-fashioned ring pole, it is common practice to locate the pulley housings inwardly of the ends of the rod and to provide a cord opening in the lower face wall of the rod to allow the traverse cords to pass downwardly from the pulley housing. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,119,442; 3,333,622; 3,470,578 and 3,521,317, the pulley housings are inserted into the rod from the ends of the rod. However, the pulley housings in those patents are disposed wholly within the rod and the relatively sharp edges of the rod around the cord opening are exposed where they can be contacted by the cords and cause abrasion and wear. It has also been proposed as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,653,091 and 3,713,473, to insert the pulley housing laterally into openings in the face wall of the traverse rod. When the pulley housing is inserted upwardly through an opening in the bottom of the rod, there is a problem of adequately supporting the pulley housing against the downward pull exerted on the traverse cords. U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,473 discloses an arrangement in which the pulley housings are inserted downwardly through an opening in the top of the rod and are supported on the top of the rod to guide the cord through a cord opening in the bottom of the rod. The top opening adversely affects the appearance of the rod and supporting the pulley housing on the top of the rod tends to cause deformation of the rod and trackway, under the forces applied to the pulley housing by the draw cords.